crucial

1706, from French crucial, a medical term for ligaments of the knee (which cross each other), from Latin crux, crucis (“cross”) (English crux), from the Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to turn, to bend”).

The meaning “decisive, critical” is extended from a logical term, Instantias Crucis, adopted by Francis Bacon in his influential Novum Organum (1620); the notion is of cross fingerboard signposts at forking roads, thus a requirement to choose. Specific quote is:[1]

Inter praerogativas instantiarum, ponemus loco decimo quarto Instantias Crucis; translato vocabulo a Crucibus, quae erectae in biviis indicant et signant viarum separationes.

• IPA^(key): /ˈkɹuː.ʃəl/
• Rhymes: -uːʃəl

crucial (comparative more crucial, superlative most crucial)

1. Essential or decisive for determining the outcome or future of something; extremely important.

   The battle of Tali-Ihantala in 1944 is one of the crucial moments in the history of Finland.

   A secure supply of crude oil is crucial for any modern nation, let alone a superpower.

   • 2014 March 7, Nicole Vulser, “Perfume manufacturers must cope with the scarcity of precious supplies”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 190, number 13, page 30:

     The perfume industry is facing a major problem: maintaining constant levels of quality is crucial, but it is increasingly difficult to obtain a regular supply of all the necessary natural ingredients.

2. (archaic) Cruciform or cruciate; cross-shaped.
3. (slang, chiefly Jamaica) Very good; excellent; particularly applied to reggae music.

   Delbert Wilkins is the most crucial pirate radio DJ in Brixton.

• See Thesaurus:important

• crucial experiment

• cross
• crux

From a root of Latin crux.

crucial (feminine singular cruciale, masculine plural cruciaux, feminine plural cruciales)

1. cruciform
2. crucial, critical, vital

• “crucial” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

crucial m or f (plural cruciais, comparable)

1. crucial

For quotations of use of this term, see Citations:crucial.

From English crucial.

• (Castilian) IPA^(key): /kɾuˈθjal/
• (Latin America) IPA^(key): /kɾuˈsjal/

crucial (plural cruciales)

1. crucial